Friday, August 29, 2014

Evoking pulp, sparks, roxy music and the soundtrack to carnival
of souls re-imagined by tangerine dream. Producer Christian Gabel used to be in
Bob Hund and that’s the direction this orbits to a degree. I guess it’s what
might be referred to as “minimal”. As opposed to orchestral maybe. But this
quibbling never dampens the bigger cinematic picture. I used lower case on those band names back there because the evocation is spiritual rather than sonic.

“I Forgot About Songs” recalls “I Wonder Who Is Like This
One”, quiet, understated and all the better for a faulty electrical connection.
“The Crawler” made me wonder if Annika ever heard Ivor Cutler. Probably (possibly)
but you never know, and why would she have? Anyway, the point I’m struggling to
make is that this is prose as opposed to mere song. The dialect of her voice is
as much an instrument as any other employed to give this material the form that
we can hear. I’m not sure if that explains anything at all but I know what I
mean. “Raspberry Lips” is reminiscent of Suicide’s “Surrender” and I plan to
test the suitability of a segue for any future dj stint down the road.

Closing opus, “This Body” is like an astral cousin to Lou Reed’s
Berlin with Christian G playing the part of Bob Ezrin. There’s a song on here
called “Berlin” too but I think that’s just a coincidence. Anyway, the strings
are equally as chilling as “Sad Song”, channelling a similar, spare, forlorn
oddness.

No-one not nowhere is making music that is as beguiling as
this. It provides an outpost in which to get gone from the mundane, far, far
away from any flavour of the minute. This latest diary entry indicates that
there’s no end in sight to the magic that this girl has been weaving for the best
part of a decade now. Maybe, just maybe,
the world will catch on to this extraordinary catalogue that has been spooning my sad
little heart over these past years.

Further direct evidence of the lady in question being “good with words”
can be found in “Texter” a book of lyrics that has just come out via Teg Publishing.
It resembles a bible of sorts with its red edged pages and it contains
everything but the contents of på engelska for some reason. It’s mostly in Swedish with the
exception of the Hello Saferide lyrics but completists will need to grab a copy
anyway.

Hearing the stream was one thing but I urge you to seek out
the physical release. This is a rare occasion when rare high expectations were
actually met and raised. That seldom if ever happens. At least not with me.

This is soul music. Maybe not as you know it but that's what Hello Saferide is. On the Razzia imprint where they know about such things.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Now that The Ramones are all gone – you know I don’t include Mark(y) – there’s a vacancy to be filled and there are some Spanish youngsters called Pantones that understand what makes that old punk rock ticker skip a beat or three. Their recent “¿Quién Quiere Primavera?” Is mostly in their native lingo but that doesn’t stop it hitting all the spots.

They have a grasp of what makes rock’n’roll radio great. It’s all about the tunes and these kids have those and the chops to
deliver these rather tasty numbers with a gusto that suggests that all may not be
lost after all. They’re making inroads at home but sooner or later, Spain won’t
be able to contain them and they’ll explode worldwide. Maybe via a movie
soundtrack or some such vehicle but somehow or other Pantones are just too
contagious not to start a pop pandemic.Imagine The Fastbacks having cut “Bark Like A Dog”, Paty
Critter’s voice isn’t a shouty yelp. I think I mentioned before that she sounds
like a smoky mix of Joey and Susannah Hoffs via Belinda Carlisle. Their take of
“The Sign” by Ace of Base is a riot and it suggests that they could make a
killer record in "English" should they ever care to do so.Last year’s finest seasonal single is included and there’s
always the hope that it might appear struck into 7” vinyl where it so rightly
belongs. One of these days I’ll get to see them play but for now getting acquainted
with their Subterfuge Records releases will have to suffice.

Friday, August 15, 2014

I should really upgrade this damn thing. In addition, it would probably be an idea to check some of these sidebar links too. Trouble is that I spend all day, every day (nearly) staring at a screen and the last thing I want to do at home is stare some more. I've semi-successfully weaned myself off TV and taken to falling asleep on the sofa but that seems like a start in not being ruled by technology.So we'll see. If I had any patience at all, I'd work all of this out but I don't and I haven't. One of these days though it'll all fall into place. Right?

Friday, August 08, 2014

Thursday, August 07, 2014

Wednesday, August 06, 2014

I’ve been considering making a concerted effort to post
stuff here more regularly. The whys and wherefores are irrelevant to a large
extent and this is me sort of typing out loud. Maybe it’s part of the process
to convince myself that it could happen? Who knows? Last night I burned two
hours watching the Indyref debate and was blazing by the end of it. I’ve grown weary
of living in these spoof-like times. Life imitates outlandish parody far too
often these days and a refugee from Still Game and another from Yes Minister
are wheeled on to attempt to convince us of the advantages of their own particular
corners. I don't give a rats chuff who you think won on points, both of them blew it. Pure and simple. This was a storyline that even Armando Iannucci wouldn’t try to pull off. I
believe that in the next season Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister of this
sceptic isle and much knockabout fun will ensue. Malcolm Tucker is now a Time Lord. What the heck he worry?

Irrespective of what happens on September 18th,
aye or nay – this is what will represent us so help us. I’m inclined toward the
affirmative in idealistic terms but my died in the DNA cynicism suggests that
we’ve been sold down a mighty long river. My taking a chance on the
unknown is an adventure however the bigger picture, for future generations is
an altogether different story. The gilt might come off the gingerbread pretty
quick but it could all turn out fine, in spite of all concerned. The only sure
thing is that it’s a gamble. Noble in theory, likely to be hijacked by devious
bastards in reality but perhaps not, I’d genuinely like to be proven wrong on this one but it could be the reason I've been needing to

Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose
like the song says so lets break out that blue and white face
paint and get this thing on the road.

Monday, August 04, 2014

From Brother BB Quattro...At last! A dream come true. Joining 100 years of careers dedicated to crunchy pop'n'roll! Two years ago it would've been a hundred years, right now it's 100+, but who cares! Here it goes:THE RUBINOOS (USA) 40+ THE SURFIN' LUNGS (UK) 30+ THE YUM YUMS (Norway) 20+ SUZY & LOS QUATTRO (Spain) 10+ Thursday Oct 2nd, EL SOL (Madrid)Friday Oct 3rd, FOUR SEASONS (Castellón)Saturday Oct 4th, La2 de APOLO (Barcelona) Advance tickets for 18€ on sale by the end of the week (stay tuned). This whole thing is a bloody GIFT for any fan of the genre, but it's also a FINANCIAL SUICIDE for everyone involved, so we'd appreciate your presence and sharing all the news about this festival. Such a legendary bill would only happen once in a lifetime, and this deserves a sold-out on each one of the dates. There will be the chance to buy a 40€ ticket for the 3 shows. We know there's many people who will want to follow this itinerant festival. There will also be the chance to buy a seat on a vehicle that will make the same route as the bands, so if you wanna come over, party your ass off and forget about driving, we are working on this option too. Not a bad plan for early October, huh?!?

Search This Blog

A wee bit of background, etc.

This all kicked off as a print (Xerox) magazine in 1977 and now it's on the interweb. Named after the title track on The Dictators Go Girl Crazy (40 years old in 2015) the purpose has always been to uphold what’s good and pure and right in terms of rock’n’roll and its satellites.

It has nothing, nada, nowt to do with any festival(s) that devalue our namesake so don't send mp3's or anything else with regard to setting course for a career in the music business or anywhere else.

Take a look at what goes on here and if you think your fare fits then drop a line and maybe we can work something out.

I plan to put PDFs of all physical issues up here eventually and in addition, all Rockin’ Bones, Watch This and Fuzzbuzz.Maybe Psychedelic Basement, etc from Sounds too so that everything is in one place. Some of the quality of the source material isn’t terribly good but it’s all I have to work with. It will take some time. The 3 page pilot issue, “NBT 0” from September 1976 never survived as far as I know. Some of the content is a wee bit embarrassing at this juncture but every journey has to start someplace, right?